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  1. Re:In case you missed it on Forensic Experts Say Screams Were Not Zimmerman's · · Score: 1

    This was 35 minutes after Martin was shot. In that time Zimmerman was 'treated' and then transported in handcuffs. What kind of invisible treatment could they do and how could he take off the bandage while wearing handcuffs? And EMTs put dressings over hair all the time. So far there has not been any due process as the killer is still free with his gun.

  2. Re:In case you missed it on Forensic Experts Say Screams Were Not Zimmerman's · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the EMTs treated Zimmerman, then they would have put a dressing over any break in the skin to prevent infection. The back of his head does not even have a band aid on it. If he had a broken nose there would have been blood on his shirt and jacket and you would likely see nose plugs to stop the bleeding. There also would have been swelling. No evidence of this either.

  3. Danger templates on MythBusters Bust House · · Score: 1

    Someone screwed up badly as you should never fire any weapon when there are people living in an area within the maximum range of the weapon you are firing. According to the article the round went more than 700 yards off the range which is way more than just an oops.

  4. Re:Playbook as well on 3-Way Price War On Black Friday: iPad, Nook, and Kindle · · Score: 1

    The Playbook sold out up here in Canada within hours of going on sale last week and it looks like the same thing is happening in the US. According to this CNet article'the $199 BlackBerry tablet is now listed as 'unavailable' at most Best Buy stores in the U.S. For example, a Best Buy in suburban Los Angeles said it had sold out of the $199 PlayBook "a couple of days ago," according to a sales representative.'

  5. RIM is doing just fine on RIM Unveils New OS Based On QNX · · Score: 1

    RIM has sold 165 million BlackBerry smartphones to date and currently has 70 million subscribers. A Canadian success story that I, as a Canadian, am very proud of.

  6. Re:Terraform Mars on DARPA To Sponsor R&D For Interstellar Travel · · Score: 1

    Many doubt that Mars has sufficient gravity to maintain an atmosphere and without a magnetic field to protect them, anyone there will die from radiation exposure. Venus on the other hand is about the same gravity as earth and has a magnetic field. It is really hot and has a poisonous atmosphere but solar shields and self replicating terraforming factories could fix that in 100 years or so.

  7. Re:Nuclear reactions are still occuring at Fukushi on Japan Doubles Fukushima Radiation Leak Estimate · · Score: 1

    Just to be clear, in a light water reactor, you need water between fuel rods to have fission. Neutrons have to be slowed down ("moderated") by interacting with the water molecules before they are of an energy that can effectively fission the U-235.

    A solid pool of melted LWR fuel cannot become critical.

    While fission probability decreases as neutron energy (and speed) increases, it is not zero. Therefore it is not impossible for fast neutrons to cause fission, just much less likely. The melted fuel may be becoming critical for short periods of time which would explain the iodine.

  8. Re:Apps or no apps, this is the best tablet yet on RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: Unfinished, Unusable · · Score: 1

    Actually when I am at home, I prefer using my desktop for work and my laptop for checking something while I am watching TV. I have been using my Blackberry when away from home for quick news and stock updates but banking and stock trading is not easy on a small screen. The Playbook is ideal for casual computing away from home. On the boat, plane, car etc. It fills a niche. Blackberry has identified their market. 50 million people use their smartphones and the PB is the perfect companion device. It is not aimed at Apple users but at people who need to get things done.

  9. Re:Apps or no apps, this is the best tablet yet on RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: Unfinished, Unusable · · Score: 1

    Actually people are already carrying two devices with them. A smartphone and a laptop in most cases. A tablet is more convenient than carrying a laptop for most most tasks. The PB is the best choice for someone who already has a Blackberry. As an aside, having the PB saves me from upgrading my Blackberry so it was a win win in my case.

  10. Re:Apps or no apps, this is the best tablet yet on RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: Unfinished, Unusable · · Score: 1

    Having a larger size tablet loses its advantage if it is not portable enough to go everywhere with you. The Playbook is just the right size for me and since I carry my Blackberry everywhere already, I always will have an email client and calendar app on my PlayBook and connectivity without having to pay for a separate data plan. RIM only needs a fraction of the 50 million Blackberry users to buy a PB to be a success.

  11. Apps or no apps, this is the best tablet yet on RIM BlackBerry PlayBook: Unfinished, Unusable · · Score: 1

    This article from the Ottawa Citizen sums it up nicely. The Playbook is sleek and well designed. It supports Flash and QNX is the best mobile operating system available. The PB's smaller size makes it more portable and therefore more useful. It fits in my jacket pocket or my wife's purse. It is much lighter than carrying a laptop. Wifi is all I need at home or in a hotel room. The bridge to my Blackberry works well when wifi is not available. Yes there are not a lot of apps available yet but I still love it. They make a big deal about not having a native email client but the web based email clients like Gmail work just fine. I am very happy with my Playbook and it will only get better as they release the android app player in a month or so.

  12. A way to lose the hut with centalized processing on Alcatel-Lucent Shrinks Mobile Cell Tower To Small Cube · · Score: 2

    Better article here. One of the biggest advantages is that there is no signal processing on site and therefore no need for a hut at the bottom of the tower. The processing is done at data centres and signal sent to tower via fibre optics. Clustering the baseband units makes it easier for maintenance and also makes it easier to do load balancing across a region. When commuters are driving into work, for instance, the baseband cluster can turn its combined energy to handling the signal load coming from towers along the highways and train lines. During the day, processing could handle heavy downtown traffic, while it shifts focus to the suburbs in the evening. Such load-balancing doesn't produce any additional spectrum or data throughput, but it does mean that a carrier can operate fewer baseband processors, saving the carrier cash.

    The connections are fast enough to support a standard called CoMP, or Co-ordinated Multipoint. CoMP, which is currently moving through standardization, relies on the fact that, in many locations, a user's wireless gadget is in range of multiple towers (the closer one comes to the edge of each cell, the more towers can typically see the device). This is usually a waste, since multiple towers spend bandwidth contacting the gadget but can't independently deliver different data. CoMP turns it into a bonus by dividing up requested download data and using all cells in the area to deliver a different slice of it at once—akin to the way BitTorrent operates. The phone then combines the data from all the towers in the proper order. This additive approach to using different towers means that a user's total throughput can go up substantially, but it requires centralized baseband to function.

    Finally, the new lightRadio baseband bear can do software-defined protocols. Upgrading to LTE? Just upgrade the software on the baseband processor. (Traditional rack-mounted baseband processors required dedicated units for each protocol.) A new baseband chip from Freescale makes it possible, but it gets even cooler when used in conjunction with the new wideband antennas. LightRadio uses a new antenna that, in Alcatel-Lucent's words, collapses three radios into one. The radios are tiny cubes of 2.5 inches square, and each can operate between 1.8GHz and 2.6GHz. They use tiny amps that can be located atop the tower, built into the antenna enclosure, which keeps the amp size down and dramatically cuts down on the power loss.

    These radio cubes are stacked in groups of 8 to 10 in order to make an antenna element, and when one cube in the array goes down, the others remain unaffected. (In a traditional system, the whole antenna unit would fail.) The amps cover enough different frequencies that, in many cases, simply changing the software configuration on the baseband unit can control whether each antenna offers a 2G, 3G, or 4G signal.

    The antennas also do "beam forming"—fine-grained directional control over the radio signal—in both the horizontal and vertical dimension to better connect with local wireless devices. Alcatel-Lucent claims capacity improvements of 30 percent through the use of vertical beam-forming alone.

    The end result of the system: lightRadio cell towers don't need huts, they don't need air conditioners and heaters, big amps, fans, or even local processing gear. Baseband processing moves closer to the data center model and gets cool new capabilities like CoMP and load-balancing. The system's cost savings come from power (Alcatel-Lucent claims a 50 percent reduction), along with lower construction and site rental fees. The total macro capacity of the system should double while cutting operator costs dramatically.

  13. QNX on Crunch Time For WebOS, BlackBerry · · Score: 3, Informative

    Blackberry OS6 is only a placeholder until they port QNX to their smartphones. Blackberry bought QNX last April and there are rumours that the new storm 3 will run on QNX. Blackberry already has QNX running on the Playbook. Full multitasking with flash support on a dual core processor. It will be an interesting year but RIM is not preparing to fade away.

  14. Why this is going to be a success on BlackBerry Tablet Confirmed, Supports Flash · · Score: 1

    When the BlackPad comes out I will be the first in line to get one. The main reason will be that I already have a great dataplan for my Blackberry and I will not have to pay for another dataplan. What will also set Blackberry out from the crowd is that their OS and servers are way more effiecient at using bandwidth. I am a very hearvy user of emailmail and internet on my blackberry and I have yet to ever come close to using 25% of my dataplan limit. Now with the Blackpad, I will now not have to go through the bother of tethering my BB to a laptop to use a bigger screen. The new OS6 fixes all the problems with the web browser so all in all I cannot see any downside.

  15. Re:Before People Scream Conspiracy... on Dutch Agency Admits Mistakes In UN Climate Report · · Score: 1

    I completely misread the line. Sorry. Mea culpa. That will teach me not to drink beer after work but then again it is so damn hot I had to drink something to cool off. I wonder if this heat wave has anything to do with this global warming thing I have been hearing about?

  16. Re:Before People Scream Conspiracy... on Dutch Agency Admits Mistakes In UN Climate Report · · Score: 3, Funny

    Saying that Africa is going to have water shortages in 10 years and then say it might be 220 million years is more than a small error.

  17. Canadian Cancer Society's perspective on DCA on Cheap Cancer Drug Finally Tested In Humans · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The Canadian Cancer Society posted this in August 2008:

    "In early 2007, University of Alberta researchers published results of a study about DCA (dichloroacetate) stating that the agent showed promise in shrinking tumours in laboratory rats and human cell lines (human cells grown in a petri dish).

    While the results were hopeful, the research was in its earliest stages and had been done on animals only.

    The Society has concerns about Canadians with cancer seeking DCA before any clinical trials had been done on humans to test its effectiveness on cancer patients. DCA has been shown to have potentially dangerous side effects when used for non cancer-related conditions.

    The Canadian Cancer Society welcomed the news in September 2007 of Health Canada's approval for the first human clinical trial about DCA. This is an important first step in testing this agent for use in cancer patients. We look forward to the results of the trial, which is being led by researchers at the University of Alberta .

    Until these clinical trials are finished, we can't advise cancer patients in the general population to use the agent.

    Key issues that need to be determined through a clinical trial include:

    Is it effective in shrinking tumours?
    Can DCA be used safely in cancer patients at doses needed for effectiveness.
    Are there critical doses or methods of administration to achieve anti-cancer effects.
    The Canadian Cancer Society is currently funding hundreds of other encouraging cancer-fighting research projects."

    According to the Wikipedia article:

    In a 2005 audit by KPMG, the Canadian Cancer Society reported a revenue of $150,718,000 CAD. A breakdown of disbursements shows 28% of the Society's revenues going to fund research, 17% to provide support for people living with cancer, 7% to pay for information campaigns, 6% to fund prevention, and 2% to provide advocacy. Fundraising consumes 27% of the Society's revenue, and 6% is given over to management costs.

  18. Re:IPhone World domination? on Does Microsoft Finally Have a Phone Worth Buying? · · Score: 1

    I didn't say my numbers were for the world but here are the global smartphone market share numbers:

    Symbian 50%
    Blackberry 21
    iPhone 14
    WinMobile 9
    Android 3
    Other 3

  19. Re:IPhone World domination? on Does Microsoft Finally Have a Phone Worth Buying? · · Score: 1

    [cough]According to market analysis firm comScore Motorola still controls a leading position in the overall mobile market, while Blackberry maker RIM actually commands the smartphone market with over 41 per cent of the installed base. Apple's smartphone market share puts it in second spot with 25 per cent of the market.

  20. State of Fear on Studies Find Harm From Cellular and Wi-Fi Signals · · Score: 1

    Michael Crichton pointed out that years ago there was a huge panic over the incidence of cancer of people living near power lines. After years of lawsuits and research it was determined that power line radiation was no danger but this was after $25 billion was wasted. His sub text was that there are lots of people who have a vested interest in keeping people in fear. After watching the media hype that the world was about to end every second day, I have to wonder if he was not on to something.

  21. Useless to me on Firefox Mobile Reaches 1.0 · · Score: 1

    So according to Mozilla.org:

    Firefox for iPhone
    We do not have plans to build an iPhone browser due to constraints with the OS environment and distribution.

    Firefox for Blackberry
    Sorry, no plans. Due to its Java-based operating system and the inability to build native components, Firefox is not compatible on the Blackberry OS.

    Firefox for Symbian
    We currently have no plans to develop Firefox for the Symbian platform.

    So, not available for iPhone, Blackberry and Symbian? Thats what, 3/4 of the smartphone market?

    Its a shame as the Blackberry needs a decent browser. Opera Mini 5 is ok but I guess I will have to wait for Skyfire for flash support.

  22. What about the ISS? on Obama Choosing NOT To Go To the Moon · · Score: 1

    Are they still planning to let the most expensive structure in the history of mankind de-orbit in a few years and just burn up? Would it not be worth it to boost it to a higher orbit and use all or parts of it for future missions? Could it be sent to Mars and parked on Phobos as a research base? It would take a long time but it could be sent unmanned and then have a crew on a fast transit meet up with it. It just seems like a collosal waste of money to let it burn up after such a short time after completion.

  23. Re:why are people calling this fearmongering? on WHO To Investigate Handling of Swine Flu Information, Vaccine Orders · · Score: 1
    fearmongering is when you pretty much know something is not a big deal, but you hype it up anyways. but we're talking about a brand new disease here. no one knows what it could have done. no one could say that there was overreacting or underreacting going on, because no one knew what swine flu had in store for us.

    Well actually the disease was identified in April and spread throughout the southern hemisphere which were just starting their flu seasons. It's low mortality rate was know well before the US and Canada for example declared a health emmergency. So yes they knew it was not going to be a big deal but yet we were told there were going to be bodies stacked in the streets just like 1918 all over again. Even though they knew it was not going to be a serious killer and even though they knew the vaccines would arrive too late they proceeded to order enough vaccine for the whole population. In Canada, the vaccinations started on 26 Oct which was just before they announced on 31 Oct that infections had started to decline. Note it takes 8 - 20 days for the vaccine to take effect and provide protection. $2 billion wasted and now hospitals have to close beds and reduce programs due to budget shortfalls. I am sure that that money could have saved more lives had it been spend on the general health budget.

  24. Obigatory Stats Joke on Why Programmers Need To Learn Statistics · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I construct two sets of n=100 random samples from the normal distribution. Now, if I just take the average (mean or median) of these two sets they seem almost the same."

    So its true. The n's justifies the means.

  25. Dang, I had to use my BB as a phone on BlackBerry Outages Across North America · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It took me a few minutes to realize that my BBMs were not going through. I ended up just calling. Funny how after you are used to BBMing and emailing, that having to make a phone call and actually talking to someone seems to bother me.